Just saw this on facebook. A ton of people are boycotting them now due to this email. I mean even if it wasnt paintball thats kind of shitty that its for fallen firefighters and they wont support though I would think they do a lot of these sorts of things but still...

That's just the way it is, it's their loss the way I see it. They're the ones missing out on the opertunity. As a business perspective though there may be a certain reason for it. You can't just blindly sponsor everyone that asks for it. It costs money to do these things.

I think it would help promote the sport, yes, but you gotta see it from the other end of the table too.

I think it would be great to see redbull paintball videos. You just gotta remember how most people actually view paintall. Most people when they think of paintball, they visualize a group of friends shooting eachother in the ass out in their grandmas woods. Which just isn't the reality of it, as we all know. That's just our image, and maybe redbull thinks of us this way too.

actually, it's a pretty smart business move, if dickish. redbull is a company, companies have to make money. given that paintball is still a relatively small sport, and redbull has no guarantee of making any sort of money off of paintball. basically redbull is making an investment, and seeing as how paintball is not broadcasted anywhere, and there are a select few people who go to events (and usually they spend all their money on paint and equipment). so redbull, while being dickish, does have a point. they will make barely any money off of sales, and since our sport isn't broadcast on any major networks they won't get much advertisement off of it either.

Yet another reason not to drink red bull. Mostly because its horrible for you, but this too.
I don't understand why, they sponsor pretty much every action sport is sponsored by them. Them and monster compete for top dollar in snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding etc. And I don't think that is completely true, red bull sponsored a national tournament in south Africa. Either ask to speak to someone who has good or contact monster, I've seen multiple amateur paintball teams sponsored by them.

Yet another reason not to drink red bull. Mostly because its horrible for you, but this too.I don't understand why, they sponsor pretty much every action sport is sponsored by them. Them and monster compete for top dollar in snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding etc.

while I agree redbull is shit for you, and tastes nasty, i don't understand why you think they wouldn't sponsor paintball. snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, all of those sports are big ticket sports, they are televised to millions of people all the time, and they're easily accessible. they get TONS of advertising for these big sports, and they know how to make money. paintball is rarely if ever televised, and when it is no one watches it. they will get an incredibly small amount of publicity from this event, and they are a business. if they aren't going to make money they aren't going to sponsor the event. just good business.

Monster Energy sponsors one of the events that my old local field holds. It's a Children's Miracle Network tournament I think. But if Monster is willing to sponsor paintball, you would think their biggest competitor, RedBull, would also be interested.

Monster Energy sponsors one of the events that my old local field holds. It's a Children's Miracle Network tournament I think. But if Monster is willing to sponsor paintball, you would think their biggest competitor, RedBull, would also be interested.

Because paintball makes almost no money for outside sponsors, if at all. So if Monster wants to waste money, I'm sure Redbull doesn't care.

Stop worrying about how you look, and start worrying about how you play. Get out on the field and play paintball the best you can, not stand at home in front of a mirror trying to figure out if your jersey matches your eyes.

Wow. Close to home for me, I've attended these Guns For Hoses events in MA.And yes, Red Bull was there with a pickup truck with a big redbull can on the back and two of the prettiest college girls.. .I have pics somewhere of the Red Bull truck at one of the NFFF events.

So Red Bullhas been to these events in the past.Evidently, the corporation has not seen enough return on their product to make continuing sponsorship worthwhile. OR They spent too much money on space jumps and now can't afford to back us lowly paintball playas.

I really don't think its true that paintball can't bring money to the sponsors. Red Bull sponsors any dumb dickhead capable of jumping a canal. Why else would they sponsor all the stupid shit. You think the parachutist that jumped out of a capsule near space was capable of doing that without Redbull sponsoring? It was Redbulls advertising and money that made it all possible.

If anything, Red Bull or Monsters sponsoring could help promote Paintball as a sport and get it to be broadcasted on more then web streams and in return would get them a shit ton of money from all the big tournament events. But then again, its Red Bulls loss if they don't.

Honestly who the f**k cares? They aren't going to make money off of it why should they. I mean, I'm not on there side or anything but this does nothing bad for paintball, just another sponsor we will never have. The company is after money and if they can't profit they won't do it.

Seeing as thugh redbull is not some terrible company, they don't say no for no reason. Just because they didn't sponsor one event doesn't make them a shitty company. That's a terrible reason to boycott a company.

All of you who won't support red bull because they didn't want to support a small event they know nothing about, you people have no business sense. Straight up.

Why in the hell would a company sponsor an event at a whim, with no real knowledge of who they are ACTUALLY sponsoring, why they are sponsoring them, where the money is going and so on. Red bull is a business, and a god damn smart media company if you've watched some of their productions. Their response is not to say "we are never ever going to sponsor paintball, so feck off". You need to read it as, "we're not sponsoring this because we know nothing about it".

First off, any of you who think you go and blatantly ask for sponsor money, you have no idea how sponsorship works. It isn't some one sided deal, it's a mutual agreement of why you can do for them, and they will do for you. This 'request' is terrible at achieving that. Not only is it poorly written, but it creates no basis for any of the reasoning behind the request. It's a stupid, and overly simple request based off of heart strings.

All of you who won't support red bull because they didn't want to support a small event they know nothing about, you people have no business sense. Straight up.

Why in the hell would a company sponsor an event at a whim, with no real knowledge of who they are ACTUALLY sponsoring, why they are sponsoring them, where the money is going and so on. Red bull is a business, and a god damn smart media company if you've watched some of their productions. Their response is not to say "we are never ever going to sponsor paintball, so feck off". You need to read it as, "we're not sponsoring this because we know nothing about it".

First off, any of you who think you go and blatantly ask for sponsor money, you have no idea how sponsorship works. It isn't some one sided deal, it's a mutual agreement of why you can do for them, and they will do for you. This 'request' is terrible at achieving that. Not only is it poorly written, but it creates no basis for any of the reasoning behind the request. It's a stupid, and overly simple request based off of heart strings.

Gib us moniez, it's for gud cause.

If you want professional relationships, act the part.

This. I'm sure if the request was written better, and looked more professional like dates, times, and what's going on at these events they'd be a little more interested. Hell, I know they have the red bull posse here that will come to events, as long as you let them know ahead of time. If I invited them to UWL and they saw all the people who came I'm sure they would think a little more about coming to the events more. Baby steps people.

All of you who won't support red bull because they didn't want to support a small event they know nothing about, you people have no business sense. Straight up.

Why in the hell would a company sponsor an event at a whim, with no real knowledge of who they are ACTUALLY sponsoring, why they are sponsoring them, where the money is going and so on. Red bull is a business, and a god damn smart media company if you've watched some of their productions. Their response is not to say "we are never ever going to sponsor paintball, so feck off". You need to read it as, "we're not sponsoring this because we know nothing about it".

First off, any of you who think you go and blatantly ask for sponsor money, you have no idea how sponsorship works. It isn't some one sided deal, it's a mutual agreement of why you can do for them, and they will do for you. This 'request' is terrible at achieving that. Not only is it poorly written, but it creates no basis for any of the reasoning behind the request. It's a stupid, and overly simple request based off of heart strings.

Gib us moniez, it's for gud cause.

If you want professional relationships, act the part.

Agreed.

If you want to be taken seriously, and want to have sponsors for your events, you need to put a hell of a lot more time and effort into your request than what is in that e-mail. You need specific times, dates, what it is, why it is, what it's for, who it's helping, what percentage of the funds raised those people are getting, and tons of other info like that. On top of that, you also need to explain why it's a good idea for that company to sponsor you. What you can offer them in return for what they'll give you.

Sponsorships work both ways, it's not all gimme gimme gimme, you have to articulate what that company will get in return for their investment.

Anybody who is boycotting Redbull because some Joe Schmo can't bother to articulate his proposal well or actually put some effort into his request, and make himself appear to be reasonable or professional, then those people really need a swift kick in the butt and need to see how reality works.

All of you who won't support red bull because they didn't want to support a small event they know nothing about, you people have no business sense. Straight up.

Why in the hell would a company sponsor an event at a whim, with no real knowledge of who they are ACTUALLY sponsoring, why they are sponsoring them, where the money is going and so on. Red bull is a business, and a god damn smart media company if you've watched some of their productions. Their response is not to say "we are never ever going to sponsor paintball, so feck off". You need to read it as, "we're not sponsoring this because we know nothing about it".

First off, any of you who think you go and blatantly ask for sponsor money, you have no idea how sponsorship works. It isn't some one sided deal, it's a mutual agreement of why you can do for them, and they will do for you. This 'request' is terrible at achieving that. Not only is it poorly written, but it creates no basis for any of the reasoning behind the request. It's a stupid, and overly simple request based off of heart strings.

Gib us moniez, it's for gud cause.

If you want professional relationships, act the part.

Couldn't have said it better myself, the email does seem very unprofessional. Sponsorship requests are like resumes. Im sure they only look at it for about 15 secs or less and if it looks that unprofessional, why would they give you the time of day?

We got gatorade to sponsor us last year, as well as monster this one. Not sure why redbull wouldnt care. Thats right, paintballs image is the one with people running around in the woods shooting at each other. But I dont wanna bring up my whole: changing the image of paintball to speedball arguement.

So where is the profit in having a guy jump from space? How many people really logged on their computer to watch it? Just doesn't make sense to me how they can't support a paintball benefit for firefighters but will dump a ton of money into a space jump that nobody even knows happened.

So where is the profit in having a guy jump from space? How many people really logged on their computer to watch it? Just doesn't make sense to me how they can't support a paintball benefit for firefighters but will dump a ton of money into a space jump that nobody even knows happened.

MILLIONS of people know the space jump happened, it was big news in every major news program I watch. It is huge news, because he made a world record. I'm pretty sure that that will be in Guinness, which is awesome publicity. That, and I'm sure they got a very well worded sponsorship request. The sponsorship request that was given in the OP is equivalent to a four year old scribbling with crayon. If you want to get sponsored, present yourself as a mature adult, not a four year old with a crayon.

So where is the profit in having a guy jump from space? How many people really logged on their computer to watch it? Just doesn't make sense to me how they can't support a paintball benefit for firefighters but will dump a ton of money into a space jump that nobody even knows happened.

MILLIONS of people know the space jump happened, it was big news in every major news program I watch. It is huge news, because he made a world record. I'm pretty sure that that will be in Guinness, which is awesome publicity. That, and I'm sure they got a very well worded sponsorship request. The sponsorship request that was given in the OP is equivalent to a four year old scribbling with crayon. If you want to get sponsored, present yourself as a mature adult, not a four year old with a crayon.

I kinda want to sig that.

If you want to get sponsored, present yourself as a mature adult, not a four year old with a crayon.

We got gatorade to sponsor us last year, as well as monster this one. Not sure why redbull wouldnt care. Thats right, paintballs image is the one with people running around in the woods shooting at each other. But I dont wanna bring up my whole: changing the image of paintball to speedball arguement.

So where is the profit in having a guy jump from space? How many people really logged on their computer to watch it? Just doesn't make sense to me how they can't support a paintball benefit for firefighters but will dump a ton of money into a space jump that nobody even knows happened.

MILLIONS of people know the space jump happened, it was big news in every major news program I watch. It is huge news, because he made a world record. I'm pretty sure that that will be in Guinness, which is awesome publicity. That, and I'm sure they got a very well worded sponsorship request. The sponsorship request that was given in the OP is equivalent to a four year old scribbling with crayon. If you want to get sponsored, present yourself as a mature adult, not a four year old with a crayon.

Thing is, that space jump would not have been so known or even happened at all if red bull didn't sponsor them. But you're right though, they probably asked for a sponsorship in a much better form then the OP.

Thing is, that space jump would not have been so known or even happened at all if red bull didn't sponsor them. But you're right though, they probably asked for a sponsorship in a much better form then the OP.

I highly doubt that would've been the case. I'm pretty sure somebody else would've been more than willing to fund the jump if Red Bull had said no.

Thing is, that space jump would not have been so known or even happened at all if red bull didn't sponsor them. But you're right though, they probably asked for a sponsorship in a much better form then the OP.

I highly doubt that would've been the case. I'm pretty sure somebody else would've been more than willing to fund the jump if Red Bull had said no.

No doubt about it. you would have your company forever branded with that jump, I'm sure they asked Redbull first because they are more known for that type of stuff, yes monster has a bunch of extreme or motor sport events etc. but it's kinda redbull's flagship status of extreme.

Thing is, that space jump would not have been so known or even happened at all if red bull didn't sponsor them. But you're right though, they probably asked for a sponsorship in a much better form then the OP.

I highly doubt that would've been the case. I'm pretty sure somebody else would've been more than willing to fund the jump if Red Bull had said no.

No doubt about it. you would have your company forever branded with that jump, I'm sure they asked Redbull first because they are more known for that type of stuff, yes monster has a bunch of extreme or motor sport events etc. but it's kinda redbull's flagship status of extreme.

And writing a resume can be hard. Explaining to a company why they should spend money on you takes a lot more than a few sentences. Not a great reason to boycott a company because they turn a person or group down. Everything is about money especially now. Give them the why of why they should take a risk. And I agree, paintball is not a multi-million dollar maker for a sponsor unless they are already in the industry.

Where I work, they offer classes to do resumes, how to interview for jobs, and how to do interviews. The ways you can write are numerous. A resume gets their attention, but when the contact you back, that is the interview.

well here's my point. lets say for example you own a dm13. You have chosen to support Dye. You also own some Planet Eclipse grease, a Sly Profit mask and a Ninja tank. Well, Why don't you buy Empire gear? They are a legit company, they support the sport, they are nice people how could you NOT buy something that they sell? This is the same thing as Red Bull just on a personal scale. They have to draw the line somewhere and unfortunately paintball didn't make the cut. Same with Empire in the example.

We got gatorade to sponsor us last year, as well as monster this one. Not sure why redbull wouldnt care. Thats right, paintballs image is the one with people running around in the woods shooting at each other.

That's not valid, because Redbull sponsors HALO tournaments. (http://www.redbull.c...001242983986415) So they have no problem backing battle simulations. I think the answer is a LOT more basic than that, and it's the same reason paintball has been a hands-off sport for most large corporations.

We got gatorade to sponsor us last year, as well as monster this one. Not sure why redbull wouldnt care. Thats right, paintballs image is the one with people running around in the woods shooting at each other.

That's not valid, because Redbull sponsors HALO tournaments. (http://www.redbull.c...001242983986415) So they have no problem backing battle simulations. I think the answer is a LOT more basic than that, and it's the same reason paintball has been a hands-off sport for most large corporations.

We have a bad reputation, and the sport is doing nothing to stop it.

-Tyger

Do you think it has more to do with the lack of a professional request, and less to do with the sport itself?

What Red Bull expects for sponsor requests: "Good day sir or madam, I am in the stages of putting together a paintball event to help raise funds for a fallen firefighter foundation, and I was wondering if you would be interested in providing us with a sponsorship?" Then you go on to explain exactly what the foundation is, what it does, who it helps, how much money you hope to raise for them. And after that, you include what you want from Red Bull, why you want their help, and what they can expect in return for helping you.

What Red Bull got: "Hi guyz, i iz making a coolz paintball thing for a fallen firefighter foundation, can you givez me moniez now?"

I honestly believe the person who sent the e-mail would have gotten a totally different response if he had actually been professional in his request.

Do you think it has more to do with the lack of a professional request, and less to do with the sport itself?

That's a part of it, but I'm looking through a longer lens here.

Over 10 years ago CocaCola entered into an agreement with a paintball marketing company, but nothing really came from it. Coke looked at our community and ran screaming after seeing the attitude of the players, organizers and producers of events. It was 1 $20+ Million dollar deal as I recall it, and it was all flushed down the toilet because of the attitudes.

Specifically, the cheating and justifications of it. The poor sportsmanship and the encouragement of that attitude from the powers that be. The lack of any kind of organized progression, lack of discipline or punishment for on and off field behavior of the athletes and so on.

Ask yourself this. PSP is one of the largest series in the game now. Why isn't Coke, Pepsico, McDonalds, Red Bull, Budweiser, Nike or in fact ANY major corporation sponsoring it now? Paintball has poisoned the well so long ago large companies won't touch the game. They see the players as a detriment, something they don't want to associate with their brand name. In fact the only people sponsoring paintball events are paintball manufacturers. Think about that. The only industry willing to support the tournament scene is the same industry that's also selling gear to it.

So to get to your question, sure, the letter could have been more professionally drafted. But the response of "we don't even touch paintball" does not surprise me in the least and I'd been shocked if they'd given any other response to even the best intro letter. They won't touch paintball with a 10 foot pole (let alone a 15' Sweede) and I'm not shocked.

Honestly I think it wouldn't have gotten all this publicity if he presented himself in a mature manner. What he wrote was NOT how you present yourself when you want something from a professional standpoint. Also he could've contacted a local red bull headquarters, instead of going to the big corporate headquarters.

I would've done this, it may seem wrong but I'm pretty sure it's loads better than what "gunsforhoses" wrote.

Hi, my name is [insert name here], and I run paintball events that support and benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. [insert 2-3 sentences explaining what the NFFF is and why you do it]. My associates and I plan to raise enough money for [insert specific reason here]. Red Bull has been a favorite of the players who have come to these events in years past (or months past, however long it's gone), and that is why I chose to contact you. I wish to acquire some information on how to have Red Bull start appearing at these events, and hopefully have Red Bull start to sponsor these events.

Thank You and Best Regards,
[insert name here].

It seems just a bit better than what "gunsforhoses" wrote, no?
While it may have gotten a similar response, if that message had gone viral maybe other companies would want to sponsor his events because he presented himself in a "professional" manner. Manners get you places. Swag doesn't. Remember that children.

It's funny how Redbull sponsors weird events, like for example Crashed Ice (Ice skating motocross). But ever since Redbull has sponsored that event, it has become a very well known event, pretty much anything they sponsor has become well known. I could only imagine how well paintball would progress with events, tourny's and anything paintball related sponsored by Redbull. Maybe one day!

Now if you look at his proposal, it doesn't exactly scream professional or beneficial to Red Bull to be a part of.

He is missing some key parts to his proposal/request.

1) Size of events
2) Demographic of players
3) How Red Bull can help them (Whether it be funding, just Red Bull's presence using a tent and Red Bull girls, etc.)
4) Most importantly HOW THEY CAN HELP RED BULL. Branding on the events (websites, posters, banners, all media)

Now I don't believe what Tyger is saying at all. The problem with Coca-Cola is that paintball doesn't fit into their brand. If you look at Pepsi Co. branding vs. Coca-Cola branding, it's completely different.

Coca-Cola is all about the family atmosphere, nostalgia, bubbly fun stuff. Pepsi is about the crazy, over the top, fun. So if any of the soft-drink/soda/pop companies were to sponsor an event, it would most likely be Pepsi Co. and they'd most likely do it under the Mountain Dew brand.

Trying to say that certain personalities in paintball have poisoned the well is ludicrous. I don't see companies shying away from sponsoring sports in the X-Games, and if you think the personalities there are any different than paintball, you're dead wrong.

It's all in how you pitch it. If you come off unprofessional and not showing what you can offer them, they'll turn you down instantly, but pitch a creative idea to them and they'll probably open their ears a bit more. (See Crashed Ice, Flugtag, etc.)